Details emerge about crash

Wild multivehicle wrong-way collision not caused by medical problem, deputies say

Details regarding the wild ride reported by motorists making their way along Bouquet Canyon Road Saturday evening continue to slowly emerge as investigators try to figure out what happened.

The incident happened Saturday around 6:45 p.m., when first responders received word of a motorist speeding, weaving between lanes, driving on three wheels that caused sparks from a rim, crashing into several vehicles and driving into oncoming traffic.

The erratic driving unfolded a block from Fire Station 111 on Seco Canyon Road at Bouquet Canyon Road, prompting an immediate response from firefighters on “B” shift.

When it was all over, the wayward car came to rest facing oncoming traffic between Seco Canyon Road and Alamogordo Road. At least four vehicles were hit by the wayward motorist during the incident.

“The crash happened on Bouquet Canyon Road, near Seco (Canyon Road),” Brian Stevens, spokesman

for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said Wednesday.

Firefighters and deputies with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station were dispatched at 6:50 p.m. with paramedics arriving at the scene within five minutes, Stevens said.

“The call was for a traffic collision with a Silverado versus oncoming traffic,” he said, noting paramedics arriving at the crash immediately called for an ambulance.

Paramedics remained at the scene for close to an hour, Stevens said. In the end, paramedics took no one to the hospital.

The driver suspected of causing the crash was examined at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital shortly after the crash, according to one witness who saw the driver at the crash scene and then recognized the same man later in the hospital.

Despite the damage to four vehicles and the suspect car driving on three wheels and a tire rim, no one was seriously hurt.

Two people who said they witnessed the incident first thought the driver had suffered some sort of medical problem such as a stroke or heart attack.

Sgt. Scott Shoemaker, who heads the Traffic Unit of the SCV Sheriff’s Station, said last week that the driver did not appear to be the victim of a medical problem.

“This was a four-car collision,” he said four days after the incident.

“Deputies responding to the incident said it was not a hit-and-run, and not a DUI,” he said, referring to driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. “The cause, unofficially, was due to the driver making a turning movement.”